Speaking last week, Maddow aired footage of McCain addressing a constituent whose son was killed last year at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, who spoke to Senator McCain about her belief that “These assault weapons allow a shooter to fire many rounds without having to reload. These weapons do not belong on our streets.”

Maddow then played McCain’s edited comments, which show him saying, “I can tell you right now you need some straight talk. That assault weapons ban will not pass the congress of the United States.”

McCain tells the grieving mom, “First of all, can I say thank you and God bless . . . Our hearts and our prayers go out to you and your family. “I just had a town hall meeting yesterday in Tucson and the people who were affected by the terrible, tragic shooting there,” McCain continues. “I met with [retired astronaut] Mark Kelly and [his wife, former Arizona Rep.] Gabby Giffords in my office last week on this issue — as you know they are becoming, understandably, great advocates on this issue, and I will continue that conversation. “I can tell you right now — you need some straight talk — that assault weapons ban will not pass the Congress of the United States. It won’t. Now I owe it to you to give you my opinion because the majority of the members of Congress don’t support it . . . All I can tell you is . . . I will continue to work with the bipartisan group on both sides of the aisle representing all of America, not just California, and we will try to come up with ways to prevent this from happening again . . .

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The only reason one would air the edited version of that clip would be to paint Senator McCain as an “insensitive and abrasive” boob. The longer clip shows that he demonstrated the proper sensitivity to the woman. It’s kind of hard to demonize someone who begins with, “ thank you and God bless . . . Our hearts and our prayers go out to you and your family.” But because he didn’t allow the woman to “Absolute Moral Authority” him into taking a position he’s against, the left pounced. “Absolute Moral Authority” is supposed to cow people into submission, dammit!

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But instead of cowering, he told her the truth – that the “assault weapons” ban has no chance of passing in Congress. The 2nd Amendment folks applauded that political point, and gun control advocates jeered because they are for the ban.

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Because MSNBC has been caught airing deceptively edited videos, so much, Maddow decided to preempt criticism with an impressive display of left-wing jiu-jitsu. While pretending to be appalled by McCain’s “insensitivity” in the edited clip, she actually acknowledged that she was taking it out of context.